Page 5 of Bound in Sacrifice

“Get down on your hands and knees and clean it up,now!”

The motherfucker doesn’t move and Luca sweeps his feet out from underneath of him. In one swift motion Mauro hits the floor with a thud, knocking the wind out of him. Fucker. I’d like to knock more out of him than just that.

Luca picks up Mauro’s shirt from the floor and throws it in his face.

“Fucking clean up your mess, before we make an even bigger one by tearing your body from limb to limb!”

I have to hide the snicker that threatens to escape. The funniest part about this is how nice and genuine Luca usually is. He isn’t even my muscle, that’s Cohen’s role. Luca looks up at me and I can’t help the grin that spreads across my face. He shrugs his shoulders at me and smiles goofily. Then, his slightly embellished look of outrage resurfaces on his face as he looks back down at our guest.

I hear some shuffling around on the ground and take it that Mauro has complied.

“Good, now get back up here, sit down, and keep your fucking mouth shut,” Luca points to the chair and in seconds I am forced to look at Mauro’s ugly mug again. As kooky as Luca is, he’s a damn fine Dom and knows how to assert his authority.

“Mauro, you’ve been a member here for how long now?”

“Two years,” he answers, disgruntledly.

“Okay, somorethan enough time for you to know the fucking rules, then.”

I pull up his account on my computer and review it.

In the past two years, he’s been forcibly removed from the club seven times for different reasons. Jesus...seven times? I really have had my fucking head up my ass, haven’t I? How the fuck did I not realize this?

I keep looking through his file and I see something that doesn’t make sense to me. There are transactions listed, but every single one of them has been comped; discounted to nothing. Thousands of lines of transactions over the past two years, but not one penny paid. From bar tabs to playroom rentals. One thing I don’t see on this list is his monthly membership fees.

I begin to see red.

What thefuck? Looking closer, I notice that every single comp was approved by my business manager, Reggie. I knew that they were close, but I didn’t know that Reggie wasrobbingme blind! I wonder how many other members he’s been letting in here for free?

I pick up the desk phone receiver and tap the extension to the bar where Cohen is.

“Hey, get someone to cover the bar. I need you in my office.”

A few minutes later I hear a knock at my door.

“Come in!” I shout. “Cohen, hey, I need you and Luca to escort Mauro downstairs. He’s going to be staying the night.”

“What? Downstairs?!” Mauro shouts. “You can’t do that! It’s kidnapping!”

“Let’s go, fucker,” Cohen commands.

Him and Luca each grab one of Mauro’s large, beefy arms and pull him in the direction of my office door. It’s not easy due to Mauro’s size, but he’s had enough to drink that he can’t fight them off easily.

As they walk into Le Couloir, I wonder what other shit Reggie may have been pulling these past few years. I look through the books some more and notice that a fraction of all sales, membership fees and otherwise, is being funneled into a different account.

What the fuck?

I pick my phone up again and reach out to one of our original members. He works for the Bureau of Taxation and we’ve done a few favors for one another over the years.

"Master Mayhew, I'm sorry to bother you at this late hour, but I'm afraid I’ve just come across a very large, extremely dire financial issue. I could really use your expertise as I work through it. Are you able to come in tonight? I'll waive next month's fee for the inconvenience in addition to whatever I owe you for the work. Excellent, thank you so much. See you soon."

I place the receiver back in its cradle, then lift it again, phoning the reception area to let them know that I am expecting Mayhew, and to escort him to my office as soon as he arrives.

If he confirms that I am seeing what I think I’m seeing, then heads will roll.

Chapter Four

The Beast

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